Bring all the troops home NOW

Demonstration

Friday – October 5, 2012

4:00 to 5:30 PM

Hart Plaza, Detroit – Jefferson Ave. & Woodward

MECAWI joins the call by the United National Antiwar Coalition for demonstrations, meetings, vigils or other actions for the weekend of Oct. 5-7, along with protests internationally in 3 cities in Canada – Vancouver, Toronto, Windsor and protests in London, Tehran, Iran and Islamabad, Pakistan to mark the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

UNAC is recognized for linking the endless wars abroad to the expanding “war at home”. This means the persecution of Muslims, raids and deportations of immigrant workers, racist profiling and the stop-and-frisk policies, mass incarceration and voter suppression in the U.S.

The demonstrations are underlining these difficult issues of US wars abroad: ending the occupation of Afghanistan, demanding hands off Syria, no war on Iran, stop the drone wars and stand with Palestine.

A Crucial Time for Solidarity

The killing of the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi, Libya, and the wave of massive, angry protests targeting U.S. missions, consulates and other targets of western imperialist intervention that has swept the Muslim World has sharpened the international crisis. U.S. militarists may press for even more intervention. The Pentagon is sending warships to Libya and posting Marines at U.S. embassies. The proxy war against Syria continues, as do the threats against Iran with the largest naval armada in history conducting “U.S. war games” in the Persian Gulf this week.

Organizers have also noted that elections in Venezuela, a country also long targeted by Wall Street, take place on Oct 7 and it is an important time to also demand Hands Off Venezuela and Latin America.

This all makes anti-war protests even more timely and necessary.

The following is a list of some of the more than 20 demonstrations that have been called as of Sept. 20 in North America:

In Los Angeles, a rally will be held Oct. 6 at Pershing Square, 532 S. Olive St., at 2 p.m. The broad coalition sponsoring the protest includes the International Action Center, School of the Americas Watch-L.A., Arab Americans for Syria, Latinos Against the War, and Union of Progressive Iranians. For more information and to endorse the protest, call 323-306-6240.

Also in Los Angeles, a march to “shut down the military recruitment center” is set for the same day at noon at Hollywood and Highland.

In New York, UNAC has called for a march on Oct. 7 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. centered at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building Plaza at 163 West 125th St. in Harlem. A UNAC press release says they were able to win a permit after “a fight and a lot of work by Nellie Bailey, of the Harlem Tenants Council and Black Agenda Report, and Imam Talib, president of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metro N.Y.” The march is timed specifically to avoid conflict with an important Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which is taking place in New York that same weekend. Another protest is set in New York’s Duffy Square, 47th and Broadway, at noon Oct. 6. For more information, call 212-633-6646

In Boston, the action is set for Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m. at Park Street, raising the slogans, “Hands off Syria and Iran! No to racism, raids and repression! No to Islamophobia!”

In Chicago, protesters will march to Boeing headquarters at 435 N. Michigan Ave. at 3 p.m. on Oct. 7. An additional slogan is “Stop FBI repression of anti-war activists.” For more information, call 773-301-0109or email: joeiosbaker@gmail.com.

A particularly broad coalition has set a protest in Minneapolis on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. to meet along the sidewalks at Hennepin and Lagoon Avenues and march at 1:30. For details, call 612-522-1861 or 612-827-5364.

In San Francisco, a march and rally will be held Oct. 6 at noon at Powell and Market Streets. Also scheduled in California’s Bay Area is a Civil Liberties Teach-in at Laney College in Oakland on Oct. 1-3, organized by Northern California UNAC.

The Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice set the demonstration in Detroit for Friday, Oct. 5 from 4-5:30 p.m. at the entrance of Hart Plaza on Jefferson at Woodward Ave. It will also protest the drone attacks in Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen.

The Philadelphia protest will take place on Oct. 6, there will be a vigil/demonstration/kite-flying at 1 p.m. at 34th & Walnut Streets and will join the NYC protest on Oct. 7.

In Vancouver, Canada, at 1 p.m. on Oct. 6 an event at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Robson & Howe Streets downtown, is sponsored by the Mobilization Against War & Occupation. For details, call 604-322-1764.

The Canadian Peace Alliance is also planning actions in other Canadian cities. There will be a protest also in London, England on Oct. 7 in Trafalgar Square and another on the same issues is taking place in Brussels, Belgium on Sept. 25.